As national parties and super PAC monies go elsewhere, second tier races face voters for the House in Chicagoland

Today is the deadline for the filing of campaign disclosure reports to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) for the third quarter of 2020.

All four major party candidates had filed their reports by early afternoon:

On paper, the 6th congressional district appears to be the most competitive, in spite of the major ratings services (Cook, Sabato) rating the IL-06 as “Strong/Safe Democrat”.

As previously reported on McHenry County Blog, Republican challenger Jeanne Ives raised over $1 million in the 3rd quarter, and has just under $500K cash-on-hand.

While Casten raised slightly more during the quarter, his cash-on-hand is nearly $2 million.

As stated in previous articles, and in social media, the fact Casten is running negative TV commercials against Ives, after two losses in debates against the challenger, shows Casten hasn’t wrapped up reelection. In light of Ives’ $1 million quarter, look for more attack ads in the 6th.

In the 14th district, which both Cook and Sabato rates “Likely Democrat”, incumbent Congresswoman Lauren Underwood raised nearly $2 million, and had just over $2.3 million cash-on-hand on September 30.

Republican challenger Jim Oberweis raised only $386K from donors or political action committees (PACs). Oberweis loaned his campaign $600K during the 3rd quarter, bringing his total, net loans to his campaign to $1.2 million.

While Underwood has launched her 3rd TV commercial, all positive though with challenges with the truth, as McHenry County Blog has documented, Oberweis has yet to release and hit the airwaves with a TV commercial for nearly a month.

As previously reported, this is the first of two FEC filings all of the candidates will submit within a week. Next Thursday (Oct. 22), the FEC Pre-Election reports for financial activity from October 1-14 will be due and made public.